21 Questions
by Kiss and Tell Daddy's Girl
Summary: It was only a questionnaire determined by the imagination of the players. But who knew that the players could be so involved? Troyella


**Gabriella **

21 Questions. That was all I had to do…only ask him 21 questions. So why is this so much harder then I predicted? Slyly glancing up at him from the corner of my eye I realised that he appeared nearly as distraught as I am.

God he looked so restless and upset. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. All you had to spare a glance at him and you would see the haziness and hurt radiating from within his tired eyes. It was the little things that bothered me. The way he slouched in his chair, not giving a damn if Ms Darbus thought he was paying attention or not. The fact that he was wearing most of yesterday's clothes; the creases slowly forming in his jeans as he didn't move from his place at his desk. The way his jaw was clenched as if someone had just over stepped him and he was trying to calm the voice telling him to fight. The way his fringe fell just over his right eye, the irritation becoming more and more evident from the nearly unnoticeable hair flicks. While it was the small nearly unnoticeable things that created my stress it was the look in his eyes that caused me pain. Ok so maybe it would take a genius to figure it out, well either that or his ex-girlfriend. But to him… well I was considered both.

I would love to say that I have been fine, that I had made the right choice by breaking up with him. But I couldn't, because truth be known…I am no better than he is. My eyes were still felt puffy from last night's never ending tears. The large and baggy jumper seemed to consume me and my hair had been placed into a messy ponytail as I saw the need to impress no one…well no one any longer.

And now here we sat, opposite each other in homeroom. Both fearful to properly look at each other just in case we realised that we are truly and honestly no longer together. My heart had risen and sank within moments of each other as Ms Darbus had read non-other than Troy Bolton's name when paring us up for this lame bonding and stop stereotyping activity. She was going to be the death of me I swear, some way somehow it would happen.

I jumped as I felt an unfamiliar hand on my left shoulder. My urge to scream became even more prominent when I realised it was Ms Darbus's hand on my shoulder. Freaking Hell! What the hell was wrong with her? You don't just go and put your hand on someone who was clearly captivated by Troy Bolton.

"You haven't even started yet? Bolton, Montez we only have limited time. Montez you can be first." I swallowed harshly under her gaze. I spared a glance at Troy only to see that he was already looking my way. My gaze caught his and I swear that I had both my breath and my mind.

**Troy**

"Favourite colour?" Her voice was weak and fragile. I'm sure she would have been much happier to just sit in silence but Ms Darbus always manages to make things worse. I glanced up at Brie, my eyes widened with disbelief at the ridiculousness of the question. Brie looked away as quickly as possible while Ms Darbus just nodded in satisfaction before moving on to torture someone else. My favourite colour? Is she kidding?

"Brie, you know my favourite…" That was when it dawned on me, a realisation that came with quite a large amount of disheartenment. She was acting like she didn't know me at all. I breathed slowly before answering with the same answer I have always had.

"Chocolate Brown." She briefly smiled. It was heart-warming, almost invisible but more than anything existent.... even if it was directed at the desk. Chocolate Brown. The reasoning of my favourite colour was simple. It was her, it was the smoothness of her hair and the warmth within her eyes that I would see every day possessed by the girl I never wanted to leave. It was my turn. The turn that would determine what direction I'd take, either go along with her 'I don't know you' act or ask exactly what I wanted to. Damn it was one hell of a choice.

"Favorite food?" I officially suck. I had the opportunity to ask her about why she broke up with me and I was the coward that let the chance pass. Why did I ever agree to go along with this?

"My boyfriend's pancakes." Her concentration had drifted momentarily before a panicked expression crossed her face; her soft gasp had only made it more obvious. My reaction? Well it was like sudden happiness wrapped in trying not to choke on air. Silence filled the space between us as I watched her eyebrows furrow ever so slightly on her shocked face. I had no idea what she was thinking about but I was sure that it involved the past. It had been our tradition that every Sunday morning I'd make her pancakes. Pancakes that I would always end up burning and pancakes that she would always insist upon eating. God I was doing everything to keep the smile from my face. Boyfriend. We never used those words in front of anyone but ourselves. So we break up and suddenly she uses them in public? She would have killed me if I let 'girlfriend' slip while I pretended not to know her.

"You have a boyfriend?" I asked trying to stay calm. Obviously she was talking about me but it would suck if she denied it now. She glared hard at the table and I knew instantly that she wasn't impressed.

"Troy don't…" It is in these moments that they warn you not to continue. It's in those moments that I ignore them and carry on. It's in the moments after that I wish I had never spoken.

"That's a painful no. So why did you break up?" Her bottom lip quivered while all I could do was stare at the gorgeous girl in front of me. The saddest part of this question was that I really couldn't explain why we broke up. Why? Because she wouldn't tell me. One moment we were together and the next she was moving her stuff out of my bottom draws into a cardboard box. No sense could be made from any of her actions. God there is no damn sense involved. Not that loving someone ever did. I glanced to her as she took a deep breath before opening her mouth to speak. I leaned forward in my chair, waiting in pure anticipation. I was slightly desperate…or a lot, but discovering what had gone wrong was the only way I could fix it.

She said the one thing I didn't want her to say…nothing. All that came out was a stutter and within seconds of the stutter my heart had easily risen before being measly crushed.

"You dumped him without a reason? Wow that's really low. Who knew that Gabriella Montez could be that conceited?" Oh God. I had just been a complete jerk to her. The moment I had said it I wanted to take it back…just do anything to make her reaction disappear. But instead it replayed. The way she had glanced up at first, her eyes wide in disbelief and confusion. The way her eyebrows had furrowed quickly, before a gasp emitted from her mouth. The way her lips began to tremble and her distant eyes filled with tears. I waited for her to slap me across the face. It never came and I knew why. This was Gabriella; she would never intentionally hurt someone, no matter how much she wanted to. Wait. I don't know this Gabriella. The old Gabriella…the old Gabriella would of never intentionally hurt someone. Then again I never thought I'd intentionally hurt Gabriella either.

I was sudden filled with guilt, anger and even worse, pain as I watched her barely keeping her tears at bay. I can't believe I just did that. I was quickly becoming angry for a million reasons, starting with allowing my mouth to open and be such a jerk to her. I'm angry for falling for someone who obviously didn't even want me. I'm angry with Gabriella for being so easy to fall for. I'm angry that she's causing all this rage to grow. I'm angry that she just continues to keep me in the dark about why we broke up. I'm angry that I'm slowly turning into someone I'm not just to survive this break-up. And I'm angry because she smashed my heart as if it meant nothing to her.

Was it that hard to say why she dumped me? At least then it wouldn't be driving me insane. I knew I had to get out of there before I wrecked everything…well more like 'anything' that was left. Getting up and turning to leave I was slowly realising that I was being an idiot. I actually have a reason to talk to the girl I'm in love with and she can't walk away. So I do? Am I seriously that messed up? But I was walking towards the door wasn't I?

**Gabriella**

"Don't walk out on me." I screamed at him. My breath came in sharp gasps as I lost all human capability to leave it in any longer. While my stance must have looked fierce we both knew that I was seconds away from bursting into tears. The only thing that is keeping me from doing so is my sudden surge of anger. The room had silenced while all eyes were on either Troy or me. Troy had immediately stopped in mid action of opening the door. His hand gripped the doorframe fiercely while he slowly turned to face me. I found myself glad for the meters of distance between us as I felt the harshness of his glare from the back of the room. His face was hard while I could easily see the pain that was being projected from his eyes. Troy's breathing increased as he became more and more irritated at my screamed order. My heart felt as if it could break at any moment and by the look of him so could his.

"YOU'RE the one that walked out on the RELATIONSHIP." I gasped as he blatantly slammed his fists down on the closest desk, which just happened to be Kelsi's. Kelsi and I both jumped from shock at the force of his rage. That was it…that was the moment my heart began to break all over again. Tears ran effortlessly down my face as I fought to keep any breath at all. His gaze softened considerably as he noticed my tears. I knew this wasn't him, we both knew it, but it was what was made once I had broken both our hearts. I had done this to him. The class had gasped the moment he had screamed relationship. In the heat of the moment I had forgotten that no one knew; all they knew was that we were two people who never took an interest in each other. God we didn't even talk in public. We had both been cautious of how I would be treated by people once we went public. I honestly just didn't want to wait for the female population of the school to realise that they possessed more envy in them then they could have known after Troy was announced taken. Months ago I would have been panicking about how they would take the news once he had just admitted it openly to the entire class. But now I could only focus on the guy whose eyes were filling with tears. I wanted to just run up and hug him; something simple that I would have done when we were together.

"Well you're the one that makes me think about you EVERY second of EVERY day!" My voice broke multiple times as I openly shouted it across the room. He was the only thing I did ever think about. Even from that last confession it was clear that I was trying my best to blame Troy. I was making it out to be his fault that I was miserable just because he was the only thing that replayed in my mind. So yeah I'm more pathetic then you think. Troy's hands left Kelsi's table as he stared in disbelief. Why is that a surprise to him? He'd be the number one thing on just about every girl from East High. I dated him for god's sake as if I wouldn't be thinking about every single second.

I whimpered as our first kiss replayed in my mind. It was a Tuesday night and we were standing side by side on my balcony. It was moments after I had teased him about how he had tripped on flat grass while walking to the tree that he was famous for, the one that he would use as stairs to my room. I remember laughing at him carelessly and the next minute not being able to breathe. In one swift moment his hand had touched my waist. It was such a simple gesture but I felt the need to blush and distract myself in hopes of not becoming faint. He didn't even give me a moment to regain my breath before he glanced at me unknowingly paralysing me, smirking and casually leaning down to kiss me. In the way that he leaned down it was as if it was routine, as if he had done it many times before, almost as if he had anticipated the height difference, the shortness of my breath and the strawberry lip gloss that I had applied moments before he arrived.

At first he had gently kissed my upper lip so softly that I leaned into him, whimpering as he slowly pulled his lips away. Opening my eyes slowly I saw the content expression on his face that still withheld closed eyes. I breathed out slowly as he nudged his head to mine. I fell into his embrace as I lost all chances of standing in that moment. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he had slowly pulled me close towards him once again. Taken in by the moment I had raised myself to my tippee toes and ran my hand through his hair, curious to see if it was as perfect as it looked. Oh trust me it wasn't a disappointment and neither was what he had done next. He had placed his hand on top of mine before pulling my hand away from his hair and enlacing our fingers casually beside us. I knew I was in love with him the instant that he had gazed at me with such amusement and compassion. If I didn't know I had fallen in love with him by that moment, I'm sure that the kiss that followed would have been enough to induce me.

"And you think I don't?" Troy's voice was soft and sincere, a complete contradiction to his prior anger. He did? My eyes withheld much needed hope as I glanced at him through my blurry vision. He hadn't moved however he was now perpendicular and staring at me with disbelief written over his entire face.

"Troy…" My voice came out as a whisper. It was a warning, a warning not to continue and to save me from any further heartbreak, or maybe even worse by being perfect and showing me exactly what I can't have…what I gave up.

"NO, It is KILLING me to know that you've been crying every night since we broke up. Brie come on you couldn't fool me then and u can't fool me now. I hate that the one thing I want more than anything in the world is the one thing I can't have. I hate that you don't sing anymore. I hate that you try your best but you still can't sleep at night. I hate that out of habit, every day at 7:17pm I end up at your balcony. Just like I used to and just in time to be there for our first kiss all over again. I hate that my mum won't allow herself to believe that we broke up so she still continues to make brownies, just in pure hope that one day you will like them more then Maria's. I hate that I face disappointed faces when walking in the front door and you are no longer giggling behind me. I hate that even mum's disappointed that she doesn't catch you sneaking through my bedroom window anymore. I hate that dad still asks me to explain why we broke up and it dawns on me that I don't even know. I hate that I haven't been able to make a free throw in 8 and a half days coz I miss my personal cheerleader equipped in my jersey and boxers. I hate that every time I try not to think about you I can never get my ipod to play anything but our song since you set my ipod up with that stupid screen lock. I hate that every time I see your mum, Maria walking through the streets she never comes up and talks to me, only offering a sympathetic smile and walks on by. I hate that I don't wake up and find you snuggled up on my chest or how I can no longer play with your hair while you sleep. I hate that I can no longer watch you parade around in just my t-shirts. I hate that I can no longer lie to anyone about what I'm doing or where I am because the lies always meant that I was with you. I miss how you used to glance at me when you thought no one was watching to find that I was already looking at you, making you blush and turn away. I hate that I'm failing nearly every subject just because I can't concentrate since my mind is always focused on you. I hate that you won't tell me what I've done to make you hate me. I hate that I was just a complete ass to you and you just let me do it. I hate that I lost my tutor, my best friend and my girl all in one day. So yeah I do think about you every second of every single day you just hadn't realised it yet."

**Troy**

All I could do was watch. I only had the capacity to watch right now since I was slightly out of breath after saying possibly the best or worst speech I had ever said. What was her reaction? To be honest I'm not really sure. The second I had finished my shoes had become immensely interesting. Why is it that I can be brave for everything but the most important person to me?

I could feel the heat of each person's eyes on me, the stares almost mocking me to look up and face her. The result? Nope apparently I'm a coward.

"21 Questions...All we had to do was ask 21 questions." The softness and hesitation within her voice was too much for me. I breathed out in disbelief it coming out as 'ha'. I put it all out on the line and she doesn't even consider it.

"Brownies... My favourite food are brownies and I don't have a girlfriend. Are we done?" There was a roughness in my voice that I had never used with her, never even dared to. Why? Because I promised myself the day I met her that I would never let anyone hurt her, myself included. And now here I was hurting her and worse than that not being able to control myself. I was being harsh and cruel towards her and I hated myself for that. It was all because I wanted her to suffer the pain I was experiencing.

**Gabriella**

He hated me. He completely hated me. For the millionth time that day my heart broke but this one hurt much more then any other. It took a lot for my heart to break, to actually feel someone start to rip it in half, cutting off all capability/possibility of life. Finding no other action to do, I looked up at him helplessly as tears continuously fell down my cheeks. There was no stopping them and I honestly didn't have the emotional strength to even try.

I felt my knees cave under me, my body falling to the hard ground in which I stood. There was little harshness felt as I fell downwards. It was slow, involuntary and effortless, a similar representation of my heart being ripped by Troy's words. Fear flashed across his eyes as I fell to my knees and he subconsciously took a step forward. Well at least there was some part of him still there, the part that would kill to see me get hurt.

Are we done? I shook my head repeatedly, disbelief covering my entire face as my eyes connected with his, sharing the hurt that we were both feeling.

"No." I had meant the word to be strong but all that could be heard was a whisper before once more shaking my head. Just in pure hope that he would get the message and come save me. His glance questioned me while his eyes showed nothing but faint hope.

"Montez. You can't…" His voiced was pained. He was right…I couldn't. I couldn't keep stringing him along, telling him that I couldn't be with him but didn't want to give him up.

"No I can't…but why did you have to make me fall for you?" It was a simple question, a question that held no expectation of an answer. Why did he have to make me fall for him? I didn't want to be in this position. I didn't want to be so in love with someone that I had to break up with him before he broke up with me and permanently crushed me.

"You're the one that broke us up!" Frustration was clear on his face. He didn't understand and he never would. If I told him that not wanting to be hurt by him was the reason for the break up I would of never heard the end of it. He would have started off with sweet words that told me that he would never be able to hurt me and more importantly couldn't…unless it was for my own good. Then it would grow into physical aspects such as cookies and cream chocolate, breakfast in bed and sentimental gifts that I wouldn't be able to refuse.

"But you're the one that made the break up so DAMN HARD!" I could feel my voice breaking with every word.

"Stop! Just stop it. What do you want? Really what? Gabriella I've told you I've wanted you from the very beginning and I know that the feeling isn't mutual. Just tell me what I can do to make you happy." And there it was. Every single part of him that I was in love with, especially the frustration that was hot.

"You want to know why I gave you up? It's because I knew that when you finally broke up with me, I would never be able to get over you. The longer we stayed together the more I realised how attached to you I was. God I found myself thinking of you constantly. At school, parties, home...everywhere. You were always in the back of my mind. And I couldn't keep doing that to myself because I knew that the day would finally come, where you would realise that I'm not who you want. And I wouldn't be ok after that. In the future you would break up with me and from every moment after that I would be heartbroken. I broke up with you to make sure that you couldn't. This way I avoided being permanently damage. This way I wouldn't be able to wonder about every part of me that isn't good enough for you. This way I wouldn't be around for the realisation that would finally come when you discovered that we weren't meant to be." He looked at me dead in the eye. I could feel all his discontentment and hurt slowly rising from him and into the oblivion. The gleam in his eyes was back, the gleam that was filled with hope and happiness. The gleam that I felt awkward about putting there. I should be happy but I couldn't help but stand by my prior opinion. The break up would come at one point or another. Would it be better to do it earlier then later? I would be too invested in him if this went any longer.

"Yes We..." The words I didn't want to hear were coming.

"We can't be. Troy we had to lie just to be able to have a moment alone. Shouldn't that of being a clear sign? Our entire relationship seemed to be based on want entangled in deception. Neither of us was made to cope with lying to people closest to us. The moment you started to drift away from them I should of let you go...but I let it go too far. Do you know how much I hated myself for that? Even Basketball practice became a chore. Basketball for god's sakes. The basketball captain resented going to practice and games because of me. I couldn't do it any longer. I couldn't let you sacrifice everything that you love to give it all up for me." Words were coming out before I could stop them. Words that I'm sure I would have second-guessed myself about now considering just how many people were hearing them. Everybody, and I mean everybody was treating Troy and I like the latest new drama series to hit TV. A show that was compelling, more realistic then most and apparently you couldn't help but stare at.

"Giving up? I couldn't give you up even if I wanted to. But Giving up wasn't what I was doing, I was prioritising. How could possibly think that I would prefer to spend extra time on the court then with you? What makes it so hard for you to believe that you're my number one, the girl I want to spend all my time with? Is it seriously that hard?" Troy spoke with wonder and curiosity. His tone offered nothing but a surprised element but his eyes contained a familiar knowingness that I loved. He wanted to spend time with me...as much time as humanly possible? God! I gave him up and all he was doing was being what every girl's dream boyfriend is...perfect.

"You have no idea. But I..." That is when he did what he always did when a ramble was about to begin. He would walk up to me with a smile on his face before placing his finger on my bottom lip. It was such a simple gesture that left me speechless and frozen every time. I could never find the magic behind it though. His lips had been on mine, his hands had touched mine many times before but it was the finger to the lips that got me every time. The impact had only heightened with the separation between us physically and mentally for the past days. I trembled with anticipation as his left eyebrow raised just enough to hint to his sudden playfulness.

"Still stand by your decision? Who said I'd ever break up with you?" Gasps filled the rooms. I was thinking of rejecting Troy once more and he didn't seem affected at all. However I couldn't even find words to voice what he was suggesting.

"But Troy...everyone breaks up at one point. Unless you're like…married." I found words and my god did they sound croaky. I had no voice or at least very little at that. I'm sure Troy was the only one who would be even remotely able to hear the whisper of a sentence.

"Do you have a problem with that baby girl? Brie I love you. I'm IN love with you. Why are you so scared by that?" His voice had lowered just a few octaves. It was just enough for the class to hear a mumble and for me to hear the words exactly how they were meant to be heard; intimately, sincere and more than anything raw with emotion.

"I am scared of not being around you." I felt like I was repeating words from a movie that I would roll my eyes at. But now given that in this moment my biggest fear was not being near him, all my prior dislike of phrases had gone and a need to make him stay took over. Blue met brown as I stared at him, tears welling in my eyes as his eyes displayed a pure bliss that didn't come often. Fear filled me as I realised just how much he meant what he was saying. Troy wasn't one to ever jump into situations and that must have meant he had been thinking about this for a while. I knew it wouldn't happen any time soon but I was still a girl. I still fantasised about every aspect of my future life with my suitor.

My lips tingled as the finger that he had used to quiet me slowly began to trace the fullness of my bottom lip in a tantalising motion. Just lightly, just enough to make me force a breath and hope to god that he'd continue. My lips parted before I slowly began leaning to him breathing in his cologne. Moving closer towards him my top lip brushed against his chin and it was then that I heard his sharp intake of breath. I expected his nose to brush against mine. I expected his eyes to meet mine with a mixture of happiness and instability. I expected his arms to enclose around me. And I had definitely expected the rush that would come from it. However there was one thing I had over looked. But had I over looked it or had I never considered it? Either way I was left un-expectant of one action. I hadn't accounted for Troy to enclose his arms around me to pull me down from my tepee toes and ultimately away from his face and lips. But somehow I could account for the hurt. What was he playing at? After all this time he wanted what? A hug?

Turning my face to the side I hid the confused and humiliated face from everyone's view, taking the moment to pretend to glance out the window. The moment he cleared his throat I found myself looking up at him once again. A secretive smile was all I could find within his expression. And just like that he had lifted my chin with his finger before it slowly traced the outline of my jaw and cheekbone. His hand slowly drifting up my face before his hands curled into the hair behind my ear. Tingles accrued as his fingers slowly spread and massaged the side of my head. Tilting my head towards his hand I softly breathed out, closing my eyes as I did so. Not knowing that within seconds that he'd pull my chin up by his finger once more and his lips would finally reach mine. I was about to kill him. The anticipation was driving me insane. Every moment his bottom would touch mine he'd pull slightly away. Raising himself by just a centimetre or two just enough for me to be too short to reach both his lips. Instead I was stuck getting tingles from just his lips occasionally brushing against mine when he'd allow it and only on his command. After this I won't be kissing him for a week. Let's just see how well he copes with that and it will be sweet revenge...well bitter sweet.

He could feel me getting annoyed and in response he smirked. I was truly going to kill him and he knew it. Breathing in with complete intent I went to speak, words preferably. Just any voice to signal that I was annoyed. Even a huff would have done but I couldn't find a voice at all. Once again I breathed in hoping that the 2nd time would work. An 'I' sound came out and I didn't even bother looking for the words as he had interrupted me. In the best way I'd like to be interrupted.

Both his lips had met mine this time. I found myself kissing back as all prior anger disappeared without a second thought. Troy was amazing. There was no question about it. That boy was death wrapped in a sweet addiction that no one could stop. Tracing the bottom of my lip I let him deepen the kiss without hesitation. I felt trapped in heaven, well it was either Satin or God that was tracing my back, playing with my hair and kissing me all at once. Either way he was the God of Good or Bad.

His hands slowly slide up my back to the ends of my hair. His fingers had entangled themselves in the curls before slowly wrapping them around his finger and letting go. He was so unbelievably delicate that made you want him to be fierce; he had a sense of confidence that only intensified your love for him. He was perfect. He has and always will be perfect. I shivered as his hands slowly travelled back down to my waist, curving his hands into my hip as if he was the expert of every inch of it. His hand that had been entangled in my hair slowly slid down my arm and to the hand that was resting against his chest. In one swift moment he had entangled them before dropping them from his chest to our sides. And lastly his lips left mine as we both fought for breath. We both had been to engrossed in each other to notice the shell shocked class that held all disbelief of just how well Troy and I worked secret or not.

The class and I waited speechless as we all looked at him to make the next move. As he sent his charming smile my way I was hanging on his every breath, just waiting for the words to say that we will be like this for the rest of our lives.

"Then it's a good thing I can never leave you alone."


End file.
